


The Remnants of Team MRCI

by VillainousMercy



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Developing Relationship, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21944917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousMercy/pseuds/VillainousMercy
Summary: Four people, all with having a part to play in a larger game, join together when it is their time to enroll to Beacon Academy. While there, they will have to face their own inner demons and face the difficult truth that everyone has their own secrets that they hide all while learning how to become proper huntsmen and work with the cards that they have been dealt with outside their academy life.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Minerva

# Minerva

The sounds of a spear slashing through waves and waves of grimm, all of which were infinitely appearing by the flick of a wrist. Minerva didn’t rest. She wouldn’t rest until her skills were satisfactory. Many would think that her skills were superior to most, but not her, and certainly not her mentor. For hours on end, she would stay in a dimly lit room with enough space and more to contain hordes of grimm. For hours a day, Minerva would train in this room until she was exhausted, potentially bruised, starving, or dehydrated. However, there was no way she was allowed to stop, not under the watchful eye of her mentor. Whenever her mentor thought that Minerva had made enough progress, then she would be let free to rest. That time had been now…

“That’s enough for now, Minerva.” That voice was haunting yet oddly soothing. Her presence caused fear. Hell, she created fear. Minerva heard those clanking footsteps clamor towards her.

“Yes, Salem…” Minerva’s voice was hoarse, like she had been shouting at the top of her lungs for a millennium.

“I’m ending your training early today. You must prepare for your journey to Beacon tomorrow.” Minerva’s tired gaze caught Salem’s menacing one.

“Yes, Salem…” Minerva rose from the ground slowly, afraid that knees might snap in half. She stepped farther and farther away from Salem and towards the towering doors. She was just about to leave the vicinity.

“Minerva!” Minerva immediately swerved her attention to that strict voice. “I hope you understand the opportunity that I am giving you, not to mention how vital this situation is to our victory. Do not forget your loyalty to me.” 

Salem’s gaze never left Minerva’s. “Failure is not an option. Do I make myself clear?” Salem’s bright red eyes burned with the flames of control. She struck fear in every living being.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I will do as you command, and that is a promise.” Minerva controlled her nerves and gave her mentor a firm response. Any wrong move and Salem would be able to sense her hesitation.

Salem unleashed a quaint smile. The burning in her eyes was quenched. “Good girl. I would expect nothing less from you.” Salem was the first break eye contact and strolled past Minerva in her frozen state. Hearing the door open and close behind her, Minerva let out a shaken breath and forced herself to move her legs and head towards her room.

She roamed the hallways of the castle every night. She saw the same things every night: the dimly-lit hallways that were decorated with the clear glass windows, the sight of the shattered moon that watched over Remnant, the dark, liquidous pools that spawned the creatures of grimm. Minerva never grew accustomed to these landmarks of her second home. However, anything was better than her first home.

Minerva reached the door to her room and opened it with fervor. She immediately stepped in her room and closed the door behind her. Sadly, she could not catch a break because there was another figure in her room, and she slightly jumped.

“What are you doing here? I thought we always met at the meeting room.” In front of Minerva was the tall, raven-haired woman with a that sharp-edged sword in its dust sheath. Her back was turned to Minerva.

“I need to talk to you personally.”

Minerva didn’t reply. Instead, she carefully took one step forward.

“It’s about…my daughter. She’ll be starting at Beacon at the same time as you.” Minerva tilted her head in confusion. The woman turned around, completely facing Minerva. “And I want you to watch her and make sure she doesn’t get herself hurt. She’s young, rash, stubborn, and who knows what kind of danger she could come across.”

Minerva dipped her head in hesitation. “Raven, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I could make any promises, especially if we’re not on the same team.”

Immediately, Minerva felt herself being pushed back against the door with a red sword pressed against her neck. “Then you will do _everything_ in your power to ensure that you _are_ on the same team, _understood_?!”

Minerva tried to swallow past the lump in her throat, but Raven’s intensifying stare made it extremely difficult. “Answer quick, Minerva, because I haven’t got all day, and you know I’m your only way back home.”

Minerva slightly calmed her nerves and gave Raven a clear answer. “I understand. What’s…What’s her name?”

Raven slowly removed her sword from Minerva’s neck and backed away from her previous position. “Her name is Yang. She’s tall, blonde, and has lilac eyes.”

Minerva took that as a sign that Raven was done talking. She stepped towards her belongings that had been on her bed. Minerva had rarely slept in that bed, considering that the only time that she could sneak out with Raven to go to the castle was during the night when her parents were asleep, and no one would notice her gone. The room itself was pretty bare except for the few decorations like a desk, a bed, two windows, and one drawer in case of storage.

“Let me know when you’re ready. You only have a couple hours until you have to leave for Beacon, and you’ll need your rest for the flight.” Raven paced around the room, keeping her hands on her sword and sheath. Minerva didn’t travel with much except for her weapon and one or two bottles of water. There was anything necessary in the first place because she was only here for a couple hours maximum just for training.

“You’re not my mother, you know.” Minerva glanced over at the older woman. Raven softly smirked in response.

“At this point, I basically am.” As if realizing what she had implied, Raven lowered her head. A mother to someone not who is not her biological daughter while neglecting the latter. How ironic. Minerva slightly paused. Her own mother rarely cared for her inside her own home, yet this woman who she has only known for the past two years has offered more care and affection than Minerva has ever experienced.

“We won’t get to talk like this for a long time, won’t we?”

Raven turned to face Minerva. The raven’s eyes sunk a little. “I’m afraid not. At least not until Salem executes her plans.” Without further thinking, Raven wrapped Minerva into a tight hug. Minerva was surprised by the gesture, but she nonetheless returned it. “We will meet again, Minerva. I am certain of it.”

Minerva smiled. She would definitely miss this. She would miss the feeling of having someone that cares about her. She nodded in agreement to Raven’s promise. “And I’ll keep Yang safe. She won’t get hurt.”

“Thank you, Minerva.”

After a few more moments, Raven released Minerva from their embrace. She placed a hand on her sword and withdrew it from her sheath. With a quick slash, she tore a hole into the open space and a portal appeared back to her home. Minerva almost stepped through the portal link, but she took one last look at Raven. Raven maintained that short eye contact and gave Minerva another quaint smile. “Good luck, Minerva.”

Minerva returned the smile. “Thank you, Raven.” With that, Minerva stepped through the portal and immediately found herself back in her miserable home. The Pallas family wasn’t exactly known for their undying and devoted love for each other, and Minerva rarely saw her parents at home at the same time.

It was as if her exhaustion immediately set in all at once because Minerva had the urge to pass out on her bed and sleep throughout the rest of the night. Even then, there were multiple thoughts scaling through the back of her mind. Salem’s plans, Raven’s absence, protecting Yang, training to be an unstoppable force; there were just so many promises and not enough courage to face the inevitable.

Minerva plopped down onto her bed and rested her head on her fluffy pillow. As she closed her eyes for even the slightest moment, she felt sleep overtake her. Minerva begged and begged for her dreams to be peaceful. She wouldn’t be able to handle the stress of what was to come. All Minerva knew was that her arrival to Beacon would be the beginning of the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading the first trailer for MRCI (pronounced 'Mercy'). This trailer wasn't really action-packed, but it sets the ball rolling for future plot points.
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought about Minerva and what you think might happen with her story!
> 
> As this is posted on Christmas Eve, I hope you all have an amazing Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate!


	2. Rae

# Rae

The air was infected with the scent of pungent garbage. The town of Coquina was mostly dilapidated except for the sight of Oscuro Academy in the distance, which had been one of the only rays of hope in Vacuo, the other being Shade Academy. The starry night sky was the only thing that gave Rae hope whenever she passed through her old home. Living in Vale has gotten her used to the clean, crisp air and beautiful city-streets of the neighboring kingdom and visiting the deranged town in Vacuo made her stomach ache. However, there was only one place where she could actually feel at home, the tavern.

As Rae pushed the door open, the old, shimmering lights that flooded the wooden cabin seemed to start flickering, and the people who sat with their steins of alcohol turned their attention to the hooded woman heading towards the bartender. Rae took a seat on the bar stool between two brawny men who began to drag their eyes all over her body.

“Haven’t seen you around here before, lady.” The man on her right returned his eyes to the drink in front of him.

“You must be new around here, pal, if you don’t know who she is. She’s a regular.” The bartender stepped forward and pressed himself against the rim of the countertop.

“A regular, huh? Then why don’t you hit her up with a drink, on me?”

“No thank you. I’m just here for a visit.” Rae eyed the bartender. She reached for a pouch on her side, slammed some Lien on the table, and slid it forward ever so slightly. “You know what I want, Ricker, and you know what happens when you disobey me.” Rae’s smooth and elegant voice seemed to echo as Ricker’s eyes widened.

“I’ve done all that you’ve asked, Rae. I’ve risked my life to protect your progress in Vacuo. What more do you have to ask of me?”

“Relax, Ricker. I only have a mere favor to ask of you.” The two men beside Rae seemed to inch closer to her. “You’ll receive a letter at when you close down here. You’ll know what to do from there. I’d stay a bit longer, but I have more important business to take care of.” Rae rose from her seat and swayed over to the door of the tavern. “Later, Ricker.”

“Hold!” A harsh voice rose from behind her. She came to a halt. “If you think you are leaving this room without explaining yourself, you are sadly mistaken, lady.” The two tall, burly men formed a crowd around Rae and the door. Rae could no longer see the bar in her sights.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize that anyone in Vacuo had to explain themselves. Vacuo is full of people without honor and respect. I guess you really are new around here, pal.” Rae reached for the handle, but as she was about to turn the knob, she felt something shoot past her head, a dagger.

The silver-edged dagger caught her eye, filling her gaze with the faint gleam of the dagger’s reflection. A smirk escaped the constraints of her resting face. Turning to face her opponents, Rae clenched her fists. “You should not have done that. Now if anyone wishes to end their life, step forward.” Her gaze straightened, ready to prowl.

“Big talk for a girl up against bandits like us.” The sound of unsheathing weapons drowned the walls of the tavern. Ricker backed up into the shadowed corners.

Most of the people in the crowd carried weapons like clubs, daggers and maces of the sort. In the eyes of Rae, they were quite plain, especially since she had just graduated from Signal Academy and on her way to Beacon. The advanced intricacies of the weapons built by the students were far more interesting than what these brigands were carrying.

Rae simply smirked. She stepped away from the door and raised her shoulders in curiosity. “Ok. Who’s first then?” She scoured the field of bandits, and they all seemed to raise their weapons higher. After a short pause, a swipe of a dagger caught Rae’s attention, and Rae caught the wielder’s hand and twisted their arm, flipping their body to the ground. The injured bandit wriggled on the ground in pain, grasping at their misshapen arm.

At the sight of the groaning man, more started charging for Rae’s life. One swung his mace for her head, and Rae ducked and kicked his legs out from underneath him. A battle cry erupted from one of the bandits, who had been charging at her with his sword. Rae took this opportunity to jump up and propel herself higher in order to draw out her dual swords from their sheathes and fall down in a flip to slash at the now unconscious bandit.

Rae stood at the center of the tavern, holding her swords by her side and being surrounded by bandits on all sides of her. One by one, they all flung themselves at her. All attempts made by the bandits to land a hit on Rae were parried by her quick swipes. One of the burly men from the bar pulled a gun on her and began shooting at her. She deflected the bullets away and shifted her swords into separate guns. She fired shots back at the bandits, who had difficulty deflecting them away. With no time at all, Rae made quick work of the rest of the bandits with the efficiency of quick strikes and fast reflexes, all except one.

Suddenly, Rae was hit from her back, and she was knocked forward towards the wall. Rae raised herself from the ground with a little bit of pain and glared in front of her. Ricker had remained in his corner, also staring at the man who had taken a stand on top of the bar. He was tall and obscenely muscular to the point where his clothes appeared to be too small for him. That last part wasn’t too unusual for this part of Vacuo where so many people had been living in poverty and could barely afford the luxuries like new clothes.

Upon eye contact, her opponent had raised his fists in a readying stance. “Let’s see how strong you huntresses really are compared me.” Rae stood and attached her swords to her gauntlets. As the swords were attached and held in place, the blades on each hand split into three separate daggers, resembling the ferocity of an animal’s claws.

“Well so far, you haven’t made such a good impression.” Rae lunged forward and clashed fists with the large man. He swung at her with slow but strong punches that were able to break past Rae’s defenses and push her around easily. Her gauntlet-claws gave her a little bit of an advantage because she had a little bit more range against him, but his aura was very difficult to break through. Her efforts to deal impactful hits on him had been futile. While trying to defend his attacks on, Rae was launched backward by the strength of her challenger. She could feel her aura diminishing as she made contact with the wall again.

Her opponent stalked toward the hunched over Rae. Rae’s muscles began to crumble under the pressure. Rae looked up from her position on the ground, and the grand shadow was towering above her. He was about to smash her into the ground until he was knocked to side by someone who most definitely wasn’t her. She couldn’t see much but she did see some familiar yellow, black, and white shoes along with some cuffed light-blue jeans.

“Need some help there?” That voice would be recognizable anywhere.

“Sun?! What are you doing here?!” Sun, the monkey-tailed faunus, extended his hand out for her. Rae accepted his hand, but she still looked at him in shock.

“We’ll talk later, but let’s get rid of this bandit guy first, ok?” Readying himself with his trusty nun chuck-staff, Sun stood in position in front of Rae, giving her time to recover.

“Can’t say I disagree with that.” Rae retracted her gauntlet-claws and switched them back into their sword form. She moved to stand beside Sun and holding her swords out as their opponent raised himself from the ground.

As the burly man stood, he practically growled at the two teenagers. “You know, I really hate kids like you who don’t know their place.” Preemptively, he launched himself at the duo with a fist outstretched. Both Rae and Sun jumped in separate directions to dodge the attack, and they shot at their assailant from behind, Sun with his flurry of nun chuck shots and Rae with her shotguns that had altered from the original swords.

The impact of the blasts had sent the larger man to plummet against the wall of the tavern, and while he was still staggered, Sun had used his might to fling the man across the room, from which Rae had launched the body into the air. Rae jumped into the air above the body’s level, switching to her gauntlet-claws in the process, and she mustered a powerful strike that sent her opponent crashing down into the wooden floors, creating a crater in the center of the tavern.

Rae securely landed on her feet and stepped towards the body of the man who had lost all his aura at this point. She could hear his groans of imminent discomfort, but she couldn’t care less. Rae looked down at him, murmuring her last words to him, “Man, I really hate morons like you who don’t know who they’re messing with.” Not waiting for a reply, Rae unleashed a kick to the fallen man’s face.

Rae felt a gentle hand on her shoulder belonging to the familiar monkey. “Too much?” Rae asked.

Sun immediately shook his head. “No, I think he deserved it for trying to hurt you.” Turning around to face him, Rae took in the appearance of her friend.

“Thanks for helping, Sun. That guy probably would’ve pommeled me if you hadn’t jumped in.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know you would’ve done the same for me. Plus, I didn’t know when would be the next time we would get to hang out again.” Sun’s eyes seemed slightly gloomy while speaking. His blue eyes hadn’t been as bright as they had usually been. Rae had been aware of what he was talking about, however.

“Sun, we can still meet in Vacuo every summer like we’ve always done. Going to school in two different kingdoms isn’t going to change that. We can still call too! It won’t be so bad.” Rae tried to put on a smile for him, but she wasn’t sure how much it was working on him.

“I guess you’re right.” Sun brought his eyes up to meet Rae’s. He took a few steps and closed the distance between them, pulling Rae into a tight hug. “I’ll miss you, Rae. Don’t forget about me at Beacon.”

Rae smiled and returned the hug, wrapping her arms around Sun’s neck. “I could never forget you, Sun. You’ll always be my best friend. I hope Haven treats you kindly.”

Sun released his grasp on Rae and took his last couple of looks at her for the time. “See you later, princess.”

A slight chuckle escaped Rae’s lips. “See you later, monkey-boy.”

Their moment ended as Sun left the confinements of the tavern, realizing that amount of time that he would be away from Rae. As Rae witnessed Sun leave the tavern, she took another look at the fallen man in the crater and then to Ricker, who had stepped out of the safety of the shadows and back to his position beside the bar.

“Ricker, make me a drink, and put it on his tab.” She said, gesturing the man hidden beneath ash and dust. As she went to sit down at the bar, she silently thought to herself, _Beacon, here I come._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the Rae trailer! Let me know all your opinions and what you think about Rae!
> 
> I also hope that you all had a Merry Christmas and that you will have a Happy New Year!


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